report-writing

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from review. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: report-writing
description: Bug bounty report writing for H1/Bugcrowd/Intigriti/Immunefi — report templates, human tone guidelines, impact-first writing, CVSS 3.1 scoring, title formula, impact statement formula, severity decision guide, downgrade counters, pre-submit checklist. Use after validating a finding and before submitting. Never use "could potentially" — prove it or don't report.
version: 1.1.0
revision_date: 2026-07-25
license: MIT
category: redteam
tags: [report, writing, redteam]
---

# REPORT WRITING

Impact-first. Human tone. No theoretical language. Triagers are people.

---

## THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE

> **Never use "could potentially" or "could be used to" or "may allow".**
> Either it does the thing or it doesn't. If you haven't proved it, don't claim it.

```
BAD:  "This vulnerability could potentially allow an attacker to access user data."
GOOD: "An attacker can access any user's order history by changing the user_id
       parameter to the target user's ID. I confirmed this using two test accounts:
       [email protected] (ID 123) successfully retrieved [email protected] (ID 456)
       orders, including their shipping address and payment method last 4 digits."
```

---

## TITLE FORMULA

```
[Bug Class] in [Exact Endpoint/Feature] allows [attacker role] to [impact] [victim scope]
```

**Good titles (specific, impact-first):**
```
IDOR in /api/v2/invoices/{id} allows authenticated user to read any customer's invoice data
Missing auth on POST /api/admin/users allows unauthenticated attacker to create admin accounts
Stored XSS in profile bio field executes in admin panel — allows privilege escalation
SSRF via image import URL parameter reaches AWS EC2 metadata service
Race condition in coupon redemption allows same code to be used unlimited times
```

**Bad titles (vague, useless to triager):**
```
IDOR vulnerability found
Broken access control
XSS in user input
Security issue in API
Unauthorized access to user data
```

---

## HACKERONE REPORT TEMPLATE

```markdown
## Summary

[One paragraph: what the bug is, where it is, what an attacker can do. Be specific.
Include: endpoint, method, parameter, data exposed, required access level.]

Example: "The `/api/users/{user_id}/orders` endpoint does not verify that the
authenticated user owns the requested user_id. An attacker can enumerate any
user's order history, including PII (email, address, phone) and purchase history,
by incrementing the user_id parameter. No privileges beyond a standard free
account are required."

## Vulnerability Details

**Vulnerability Type:** IDOR / Broken Object Level Authorization
**CVSS 3.1 Score:** 6.5 (Medium) — AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
**Affected Endpoint:** GET /api/users/{user_id}/orders

## Steps to Reproduce

**Environment:**
- Attacker account: [email protected], user_id = 123
- Victim account: [email protected], user_id = 456
- Target: https://target.com

**Steps:**

1. Log in as [email protected], obtain Bearer token

2. Send the following request:

```
GET /api/users/456/orders HTTP/1.1
Host: target.com
Authorization: Bearer ATTACKER_TOKEN_HERE
```

3. Observe response:

```json
{
  "orders": [
    {"id": 789, "items": [...], "email": "[email protected]", "address": "123 Main St..."}
  ]
}
```

The response contains victim's full order history and PII despite being requested
by a different user.

## Impact

An authenticated attacker can enumerate all user orders by iterating user_id values.
This exposes: full name, email, shipping address, purchase history, and payment
method (last 4). With ~100K users, this represents a mass PII breach affecting
all registered users. Exploitation requires only a free account and takes minutes
with a simple loop.

## Recommended Fix

Add server-side ownership verification:
```python
if order.user_id != current_user.id:
    raise Forbidden()
```

## Supporting Materials

[Screenshot showing attacker's session returning victim's order data]
[Video walkthrough if available]